1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a music editing apparatus and method and a program, and more particularly to a music editing apparatus and method and a program wherein a plurality of sound materials are remix reproduced in combination.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an audio apparatus of the memory type wherein music data are stored into a memory such as a flash memory or a hard disk and reproduced has spread widely, and it has become part of a daily life for a user to carry a large amount of music data. The audio apparatus of the memory type allows the user to reproduce a large number of music pieces continuously and successively without exchanging the recording medium. Therefore, the user can not only enjoy music pieces in a unit of an album in an existing manner but also enjoy music pieces, which the user wants to enjoy, readily in an arbitrary order in such a manner that the user enjoys music pieces stored in the memory in a shuffled order across albums or enjoys only favorite music pieces registered in a playlist.
However, with the existing memory type audio apparatus, the user can only reproduce individual music pieces as they are in a unit of a music piece but cannot enjoy given music contents as they are.
Meanwhile, those people who enjoy remix music are increasing in recent years. Such remix music is produced by a disk jockey (DJ) or the like connecting a sound material formed from part or the entirety of a music piece to another sound material so that the sound materials may be reproduced and enjoyed as a single continuous music piece. Recently, also a label company for only remix music has appeared together with increase of the demand for remix music. Further, in recent years, a method called mash-up wherein a plurality of sound materials are blended to re-construct a generally different music piece has assumed greater prominence as one of remix techniques.
Thus, a technique for allowing a general user to perform remix of music pieces using a personal computer or the like has been developed recently. A reproduction apparatus of the type described is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-84748.